Crossroads Guitar Festival

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All Rise...

When Appellate Judge Dave Ryan plays his two guitars, they don't gently weep—they scream in tortured agony. Maybe he could use some lessons from the performers featured at this three-day guitar orgy.

The Charge

"It's a guitarist's fantasy."—J.J. Cale

Opening Statement

The Crossroads Guitar Festival was held on the first weekend of June, 2004,
in Dallas, Texas at the Cotton Bowl. Organized by Eric Clapton, the festival
brought together a boatload of guitarists from all corners of the music world in
a three-day show benefiting the Crossroads Centre, a drug and alcohol
rehabilitation center founded by Clapton (a recovering addict himself) on the
Caribbean island of Antigua. This DVD from WEA/Elektra features selected
highlights of the festival, plus assorted interviews with the participants, all
presented in glorious widescreen video with a sparkling DTS audio track. For
fans of rock's favorite instrument, this is the equivalent of the
all-you-can-eat buffet at the Olive Garden. Dig in.

Facts of the Case

The Crossroads Festival was more than just a concert; it also hosted an
amateur guitar contest (creatively titled "Guitarmageddon"), workshops
on guitar playing, and a large venue for buying and selling musical equipment
and such. But none of that is here on this two-disc set; this is all about the
music. The set list draws from all three days of the show, from both the main
stage and the ancillary stages set up in Field Park outside the Cotton Bowl.
Although interstitial interviews give the proceedings a bit of narrative flow,
there's really no rhyme or reason to the order of presentation here—it's
very mix-and-match. In any event, here's the rundown:

• James Taylor with Joe Walsh: "Steamroller" A
silly, fun performance showcases Taylor's often-hidden sense of humor and
his ability to rip into a good blues song when necessary.

• Vince Gill with Jerry Douglas: "Oklahoma Borderline,"
"What The Cowgirls Do" The vast expanse of country music is
represented by Gill, one of its more renowned contemporary practitioners, in two
rollicking tunes.

• J.J. Cale with Eric Clapton: "After Midnight,"
"Call Me The Breeze" Cale, better known as a songwriter, proves
he can play a mean guitar as well.

• Robert Randolph and the Family Band: "The March" Pedal steel player Randolph brings his high-energy hybrid of gospel and
R&B to the main stage—hold on to your seats!

• Doyle Bramhall II: "Green Light Girl" Bramhall
certainly has the right pedigree—his father Doyle Sr. was the drummer for
legendary Texas bluesman Lightning Hopkins. For most of the festival, he's
relegated to sideman status, but here he gets to show his chops all by
himself.

• Carlos Santana with Eric Clapton: "Jingo" The
only thing better than listening to one of Santana's silky-smooth Latin
compositions is listening to him explain what it's about or what inspired him to
write it. It's roughly the equivalent of listening to a really, really stoned
hippie describe what he loves about Gandalf. Fantastic stuff.

• John Mayer: "City Love" Hey, who let the big,
tall freak in?

Disc Two:

• Vishwa Mohan Bhatt: "Rag Bihag" Part Two of the
program opens with an Indian musician who doesn't just play the guitar—he
invented a type of guitar to play his style of Indian folk music. Now
that's going beyond the call of duty.

• John McLaughlin: "Tones for Elvin Jones"

• Larry Carlton: "Josie" A pair of jazz guitar
greats bring their inimitable styles to the stage. And yes, that latter one is
the Steely Dan song—Carlton played on the original as well.

• David "Honeyboy" Edwards: "Going Down
Slow" Another old timer (and Robert Johnson contemporary) shows us
how it's done.

• Eric Clapton: "If I Had Possession Over Judgement
Day" Another performance from Clapton's main set; this time, a
classic Robert Johnson tune.

• Robert Cray: "Time Makes Two" Cray's been
running underneath the pop culture radar since achieving a brief chart success
with Strong Persuader in the mid-'80s, but he's still as peppy a bluesman
as ever.

• Jonny Lang: "Give Me Up Again" The
frighteningly young Lang—he's only 22—still manages to sound like a
chain-smoking 65-year-old soul singer. Already a Grammy nominee, this
performance will do nothing to persuade you he didn't deserve it.

• David Hildago: "Neighborhood" The guitarist and
spiritual leader of Los Lobos gets all rootsy and stuff, esse.

• Steve Vai: "I'm the Hell Outta Here" The idol
of pimply teen metal freaks everywhere plays the guitar at speeds not safe for
other humans.

• Eric Johnson: "Desert Rose" Another technical
virtuoso, Johnson was named Best Guitar Player by Guitar Magazine for five
straight years—then they disqualified him from consideration by putting
him into their Hall of Fame. If you play guitar, don't watch him—you'll
feel incredibly inferior.

• Joe Walsh: "Funk 49," "Rocky Mountain
Way" Cleveland's native son Walsh, formerly of the James Gang and the
Eagles, has developed his daffy-goofy persona to such an extent that it's easy
to forget just how flat-out good he is.

• Eric Clapton: "I Shot the Sheriff," "Have You
Ever Loved A Woman (Blues in C)" The final tidbits from Clapton's
performances are the best. His translation of a Bob Marley classic from reggae
to blues is skillful. Clapton just playing some straight-out blues is
legendary.

• ZZ Top: "La Grange," "Tush" The Texas
power trio closes the show with their two career-making hits from the '70s.

The Evidence

Ever since the tragic death of his young son Conor, Eric Clapton has been
retreating further and further into his musical roots—traditional blues
music. In fact, Clapton had just issued an album of Robert Johnson covers, Me
and Mr. Johnson, in March, 2004. Therefore, it should come as no surprise
that his self-created guitar festival focuses primarily (but not exclusively) on
the blues. The guest list is beyond impressive—it's Hall of Fame material,
encompassing blues practitioners both old and young. There's no question that
being around so many other great bluesmen pushed the artists to greater
heights in their performances, too. For that reason alone, this disc is a
valuable addition to any music fan's collection.

But that's not the end of the story. Clapton could have organized a straight
blues festival here, but he didn't—this is a guitar festival. It's
as close as you'll ever come to getting a survey of Contemporary Topics In
Guitar Playing all in one package. The sounds—and the audiences—of
John Mayer and ZZ Top couldn't be more different, but here they're welcomed
under the same, big, guitar family tent. Surprisingly, the effect isn't as
jarring or disconcerting as you'd think. Most contemporary forms of
music—rock, blues, jazz, bluegrass, country—have a common ancestry,
if you go back far enough in time. Festivals like this serve to illustrate this
commonality—as Santana might say, it's all about brotherhood and love and
peace, man.

Most of the major artists were interviewed as part of the disc's production;
segments of these interviews serve as "bumpers" between performances.
They are cleverly integrated into the pseudo-narrative of the presentation,
too—a series of comments about Buddy Guy will lead into a Buddy Guy
performance, and so forth. Additional material from these interviews is included
as an extra feature on Disc Two, organized by the topic discussed rather than by
artist. For the most part, it's good stuff—these folks aren't very
long-winded, yet they still have some interesting things to say.

Picture and sound are exemplary. Although it's not advertised as such, it
appears that the show was shot in high definition video. In any event, it's
presented in a 1.85:1 widescreen aspect, with vivid, clear colors and few
artifacts. The only real significant video issues arise with some daytime
performances from the second stage; the artists are filmed against a relatively
bright off-white canvas backdrop, which causes a bit of wash-out and bleeding at
times. It's not particularly bad, and was essentially unavoidable, so I don't
consider it a major detriment.

I'm not one to get into the whole DTS vs. Dolby 5.1 argument, but I will say
this—the DTS track on this disc is far superior to the Dolby track.
It's cleaner, brighter, better mixed, and more "full" in
sound—it's quite possibly the best audio track I've ever heard from a
concert DVD or CD. But that's not to say the Dolby track is
worthless—it's good, just not as good as the DTS. A quality stereo mix is
also included, which sounds terrific on non-surround equipment. This trio of
audio tracks is perfect—and I don't use that term lightly.
Reference-quality material.

The Rebuttal Witnesses

Beyond the extra interviews mentioned above, the disc is devoid of extra
features. Unless you count the multi-angle viewing option, which only is
available on Disc One. I don't.

Since this was a three-day festival, but the discs here run only a shade
over four hours, you can't help but wonder what was left out. For example, I
read that Styx played a blues-heavy set—now that would be
interesting to hear. You just know that Santana played "Oye Como Va"
at some point—did Clapton join him? So many questions…

I have to question the inclusion of John Mayer here as well. I'll be honest:
Mayer is not my cup of tea. I think he's a moderately talented Dave Matthews
knockoff who relies on his baby face and oh-so-sensitive balladry to appeal to
the screaming-teenage-girl audience. His histrionic performance of "City
Love," so different in tone and style from the rest of Disc One, was an odd
choice to end the first selection of performances. It's a bit of a buzzkill. But
I will give him this—he won me over in the interviews. Mayer's clearly
more intelligent than your typical musician, and is refreshingly modest. I guess
I can cut the kid some slack…

Finally, one issue comes out in every single review I've seen of this set,
and this one will be no different: The show-ending ZZ Top performance is
decidedly anticlimactic. Yes, ZZ Top did actually close the festival, but
after the All-Star Blues Jam, and the full-band Clapton performances, their
power trio attack sounds a bit thin. Let's be honest—the best place to see
ZZ Top is in a small bar somewhere in Houston or Corpus Christi, not in the
cavernous Cotton Bowl. Let the Top close Disc One instead of Mayer, and close
Disc Two with Clapton, and maybe you've got something.

Closing Statement

If you're a fan of the blues, or a fan of some of the artists featured here,
Crossroads Guitar Festival is definitely a worthwhile purchase. You'll
love the sound and vision, and maybe you'll develop an interest in some of the
artists you weren't familiar with before.

On the other hand—if you hate the guitar, stay far, far away from this
disc.